Fire Safety Risk Assessment UK: Duties & Checks

Overview

A fire safety risk assessment is a structured review of a premises that looks at how a fire could start, who could be harmed, and what needs to be in place to keep people safe. Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, every non-domestic premises in England and Wales must have one, and it must be written down where five or more people are employed.

The duty sits with the 'responsible person', which in most workplaces is the employer, but it can also be an owner, occupier, managing agent, or anyone else who has control of the building or part of it. The assessment covers sources of ignition, flammable materials, escape routes, alarms, emergency lighting, firefighting equipment, signage and how people would actually leave the building in an emergency.

It is not a tick-box exercise: fire authorities can inspect at any time, and failings can lead to enforcement notices, prosecution, or in serious cases imprisonment. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own separate fire safety regimes.

Key steps

1. Identify who the responsible person is. Before anything else, work out who legally carries the duty for the premises. In a single-occupier workplace this is usually the employer. In shared buildings, landlords, managing agents and individual tenants may each hold responsibility for different parts, and they are expected to cooperate and share information.
2. Walk the premises and map the hazards. Go through every area systematically and note anything that could start a fire (heaters, electrics, cooking equipment, smoking areas, hot works) along with anything that would help it spread (paper storage, packaging, furnishings, flammable liquids). Do not forget roof spaces, basements, plant rooms and external storage.
3. Identify who could be at risk. Think beyond your employees. Consider visitors, customers, contractors, cleaners working out of hours, disabled users, lone workers, children, and anyone sleeping on site. People unfamiliar with the layout, or who need help to evacuate, need specific thought in the assessment.
4. Evaluate, remove and reduce the risk. For each hazard, decide whether it can be removed entirely. Where it cannot, look at how to reduce the risk to the lowest reasonably practicable level. This usually means a combination of physical measures (fire doors, alarms, extinguishers, emergency lighting, signage) and management measures (training, drills, maintenance, housekeeping).
5. Record, plan, train and review. Write the findings down, prepare an emergency plan, and make sure staff know what to do. The assessment must be reviewed regularly and whenever things change, such as a refit, a change of use, new equipment, or a near-miss. Keep records of tests, drills and maintenance.

Common questions